The Old Folks Home

[Hangtown Farms]

here are my new additions.
Ron I went to the post on the importation then accidentally posted pictures on the Dorking thread

what a dork I am lol


anyways here are the new ones
what we have is
3 Empordanesa
4 Crele Penedesenca ( 1 boy for sure and 2 girls for sure. I am 99% certain the other is a girl

 

[Bunnylady]

Quote: Not now, maybe, but wait a few years. Is there a Filipino equivalent for, "You've ruined my life!!?"

 

[ozexpat]

Not now, maybe, but wait a few years. Is there a Filipino equivalent for, "You've ruined my life!!?"

you roooeened my life

 

[Cynthia12]

The one they sell at TSC is a Wafer based incubator. They are hard to keep at a stable temperature. They also do not have a fan that keeps the temperature even.

The Genesis is digital and keeps temperatures very stable. The fan helps with keeping a nice even temperature in the incubator. You can hatch a lot of chicks in them.

Others are a lot more expensive and are just a bit better--like Brinsea.

I love, love the still airs. I get hatch after hatch. When you get the temp where you want it, just put a mark on the side where it is staying where you want it. No more tweeking. I'm finding that humidity is a ..oh boy, going to get guff here..not as big a biggy as it's all been made out..except, if you get waay to high, or waay, too low. So, somewhere easy, anywhere in between 55 to 65 and those chicks should be fine. Down to close to 50 is too low, get close to those 70's for chicks is to high. My experience here in this state.

 

[Cynthia12]

The one they sell at TSC is a Wafer based incubator. They are hard to keep at a stable temperature. They also do not have a fan that keeps the temperature even.

The Genesis is digital and keeps temperatures very stable. The fan helps with keeping a nice even temperature in the incubator. You can hatch a lot of chicks in them.

Others are a lot more expensive and are just a bit better--like Brinsea.

I do buy the still air, but not the ones with the wafers!

 

[ozexpat]

Many of you know that I mix my own feeds and am rather specific when it comes to feed ratios and protein content

Laying Hens- In the case of laying hens, Crude Protein (CP) and amino acid formulations are largely over-formulated with the hopes of getting a return in either egg size or egg number. Unpublished research from by Applegate et al., however, suggests that 15.3 g of CP (858 mg Lys, 450 mg Met, 585 mg Thr, and 638 mg Ile) is sufficient to maximize egg weight and production from 25 to 45 weeks of age versus birds fed corn/SBM diets containing 16.15 g of CP (874 mg Lys, 409 mg Met, 627 mg Thr, and 684 mg Ile).

For those feeding your chooks more than 15% protein all you are doing is creating more stink (ammonia) in your coop and spending extra money you could be spending on me lol

 

[chickadoodles]

That little puppy pic is so cute. No way could I imagine someone doing that to any animal..it is so maddening. I love that you kept your porch kitten and gave her a home. My house has been and is filled with pets no one wanted anymore, or they had defects that the 'breeder' (I use that word with sorrow) judged as being worthless and was literally leaving the poor pup in a cage in the back when people came to look at the 'perfect' pups. (that is my Jackson, my little Papillion) he is pretty much blind and only has a few teeth and has had to have surgery on his deformed jaw in order to close his mouth properly. He is only 6 years old and although I don't know how long we will have him he has my heart. I love him so much, he has such joy and a happy joyful nature. Iggy my little mixed up dog (pom? Chihuahua ? mix) I found on the side of the road miles from any home or anything. he was shaking, scared to death, completely running with fleas, full of worms, not altered but had a retained testicle, his privates were full of an infection, his 'sack' was the size of an orange so he could barely walk, he had dew claws down to the ground and all turned into the pads of his feet along with severely overgrown nails. It took me half an hour on my hands and knees on the side of the road to get him to come to me..(bacon from a sandwich finally worked) The vet did most of the work for free to get him healthy, a good bath and good food and he is good as new. He is a wonderful little dog that someone obviously dumped on the side of the road. We also have a border collie/shepherd mix that the police chief of our town brought to me and my daughter, she was so abused she could not be handled by men or anyone in a uniform, he knows we take hard to place/handle dogs. She has been our biggest challenge. Doggy obedience classes, drugs to calm her down (at first) no longer, but even though I didn't like to use doggy Prozac..this dog needed it. After 4 years she will let my husband touch her and walk her, she is my daughter's shadow. She is the most wonderful gentle loving dog, she is protective and we are careful when new people come over. She likes to 'pin' people she is unsure of and she can do that with just a stare. As soon as we tell her okay..leave off..she lets them 'go'. She has saved my daughter from a creepy man trying to get through our gate onto our property even though it is padlocked and clearly marked no trespassing. He was telling my daughter who was in the yard to come get the gate open, he wanted to 'show her something' She told him no and he started climbing the gate until Maggie came around the corner at full speed and alert. Maggie in working mode is an interesting sight and quite terrifying if you are on the business end..lol..he climbed back off the fence..I was on my way home when this happened I called the police..they met me by my home because I saw him walking up the road. Well the town had been having complaints all day about this guy and they gave him a trip out of town. (He had a license to come into our town to sell security systems for this fly by night company and was going around showing people how easy it was to get onto or break into their houses)...yes that is the truth. Well we do have an electronic security system, and we have Maggie, I will love Maggie forever, in my eyes who knows what that man would have done if he had gotten all the way onto the property. We saved her and she save us..

That was a very nice story, thank you for sharing! I love animals and have taken in many over the years.

 

[ozexpat]

I broke down and made a facebook page

https://www.facebook.com/cocobeachpoultry

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Yeah...I would definitely say that if you didn't jump in and get the el cheapo, you should hold off and get a Brinsea or something good. You'll waste a lot of money on eggs in a cheaper incubator, and have little success until you've worked hard to figure out the tedious nuances of that ONE styrobater. In the meantime, you'll have a dependable, easy to manage incubator chugging away feeding your voracious need to hatch (if you don't have it yet, you will) if you go right for the better version.

...and you'd end up buying the better one in the end after losing a bunch of eggs to the cheapo, anyway.

I started with a used LG a friend gave me that was missing windows, didn't seal well and after repairs, I got some chicks to hatch but it didn't hold temps well at all.
I agree that one is probably better off waiting till they can manage the purchase of a quality unit.
I built my own cabinet from recycled materials and some purchased controls. I tweak it after each hatch and it keeps getting better. I enjoy the ongoing project and have learned a lot in the process. I really don't know how much money I have in it (my bad), but it holds a minimum of 126 chicken eggs in the incubator portion and 50 in the hatcher.
The community college bought a LG for me to use in my 'college for kids' program last summer. I have it as a backup in case I have a need for it.

Many of you know that I mix my own feeds and am rather specific when it comes to feed ratios and protein content

Laying Hens- In the case of laying hens, Crude Protein (CP) and amino acid formulations are largely over-formulated with the hopes of getting a return in either egg size or egg number. Unpublished research from by Applegate et al., however, suggests that 15.3 g of CP (858 mg Lys, 450 mg Met, 585 mg Thr, and 638 mg Ile) is sufficient to maximize egg weight and production from 25 to 45 weeks of age versus birds fed corn/SBM diets containing 16.15 g of CP (874 mg Lys, 409 mg Met, 627 mg Thr, and 684 mg Ile).

For those feeding your chooks more than 15% protein all you are doing is creating more stink (ammonia) in your coop and spending extra money you could be spending on me lol

The cheapest organic feed I can get is a 16% grower. I have a deal with a co-op and get it within a couple days of when it's made. For the last couple months that has been my primary feed for all birds. I'm keeping 2 containers of oyster shell with each flock. One near the feed, one next to nest boxes.
It is in bulk feeders but I also ferment it for feeding on days above freezing.
I'm boosting it with fishmeal for chicks. For the first month it's mixed 4.5:1 for 24% protein. Up to 10 weeks it's mixed 10:1 for 20% and straight 16% after that.

This is really simplifying things and so far so good.
I used to stock conventional feeds in the following types: 27% game bird starter, 22% starter, 18% all flock, 17% breeder, 20% layer, 15% finisher.
The 20% layer was intended to be mixed half and half with grain.

 

[chickadoodles]

Canuck, you win the prize for entertainment today!!

x2